DURHAM, N.C. – Duke Associate Head Coach Shawn Wilbourn has been chosen to speak at the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Annual Convention in Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 15-18. The convention will feature top coaches from across the nation presenting to high school coaches and other USTFCCCA members.

Wilbourn, who enters his seventh season with the Blue Devils, specializes in coaching multi-event athletes, pole vaulters, sprinters and hurdlers. He has helped his student-athletes produce plenty of success during his tenure at Duke, highlighted by two-time heptathlon national champion Curtis Beach. In addition to Beach’s two titles, Wilbourn has coached 11 All-Americans, eight ACC Champions and 27 All-ACC honorees. During his first six years, a combined 27 school records were set by his student-athletes.

Before Duke, Wilbourn held a similar position at Georgia after a four year stay at Cortland State University, the last two as Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country. He was awarded numerous Atlantic Region and New York State Coach of the Year honors for his mentoring at Cortland State, coaching 18 All-Americans and two national champions.

Wilbourn’s other collegiate coaching stops include the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and his alma mater, Long Beach State University, where he earned his master’s in kinesiology in 2003.

In addition to his collegiate experience, Wilbourn has helped international competitors reach their goals. In 2008, he coached former Georgia long jumper Patty Sylvester to the Beijing Olympics. During that same year, Sylvester logged a distance of 22-0.25 (6.71), setting a national record.

Wilbourn was also a 1996 Olympic Trials finalist in the decathlon and competed at the World Championships for Team USA in 1997.